Hack VC-linked wallet moves $3 million in ENA to Wintermute after 57% rally

On August 27, the on-chain analyst Ai 姨 (@ai_9684xtpa) spoke on X about a wallet that is connected to Hack VC, a venture firm, through which 21.85 million $ENA worth nearly $3 million were transferred to the Wintermute deposit address.

The timing of this transaction coincided with the fact that the value of $ENA has increased by over 57%. It confirms the behavior of investors during price increases: early investors reap profits while the prices are rising through private OTC desks instead of public exchanges.

The amount of $3 million is hardly significant in terms of the worldwide cryptocurrency market. In comparison to $ENA’s market capitalization of $1.44 billion and a daily volume of $507.85 million, the amount is insignificant, according to DefiLlama. The time and place of the transaction are much more important to traders than the actual amount. The venture-linked wallet seems to be cutting off its position as it makes its move while using the similar institutional facilities that are increasingly determining the liquidity of altcoins.

A wallet, several hops, and a Wintermute deposit address

As per Ai 我, the address 0x2a500f…590CF facilitates the movement of tokens using various intermediary transfers before transferring the tokens to Wintermute around four hours before the post on August 27, 2026. The price of $ENA at that time is $0.1478.

There are two major points to mention. First, the Hack VC wallet connection is an attribution based on the analyst view of the case and it hasn’t been verified. Cryptopolitan was not able to independently check the on-chain activity. When checked, the public explorers Arkham and Etherscan were under bot verification systems. Second, sending any amount of money to the market maker does mean some activity took place, but does not prove that the transaction already happened. The coins may stay in this wallet, go back, or go somewhere else.

Selling into a 57% week

The timing is noteworthy because of $ENA’s recent rise in value. According to DefiLlama, the token is up 56.8% in the last week and 78.2% in the last month, trading at around $0.15. Even after this spike, $ENA is still down almost 90% from its all-time high of $1.52 in April 2024.

Nevertheless, Ethena is anything but small. The protocol that powers USDe synthetic dollar boasts a total locked value of $4.485 billion and a fully diluted valuation of $2.195 billion. Therefore, a backer who pulls out a few million dollars from the project will not change the picture. Rather, it demonstrates the ability of early investors to cash-out fast, in the event of a surge of token price.

Why an OTC desk, not the open market

Instead of selling straight through a spot order book, sending tokens through Wintermute links its movements through the wallet to a wider shift in the market. In its OTC review for the first half of 2026, Wintermute said institutions amounted to a record 72% of spot flow on its desk, while retail activity continued to be low. The company also claimed that liquidity has become less dispersed in a small number of assets preferred by institutions, thus making the long tail lighter.

This helps to clarify the reasons why a venture capital firm may choose to use the OTC option. Selling tokens worth $3 million while there is about $20 million worth of on-chain liquidity with the possibility of selling on the open market can affect the price negatively for the seller. An OTC desk can take care of this amount smoothly. Wintermute has close ties with Ethena as it is listed among the seed investors of Ethena’s 2023 funding round, according to DefiLlama.

What unlock research says about insider selling

Whether insider exits hurt holders depends heavily on the token. Tokenomist research covering 236 unlock events found that the typical token underperformed Bitcoin by a median 16.26% a month later. The impact was concentrated in early-stage, thin-float assets, while established, liquid tokens showed no significant effect.

A separate analysis of more than 5,000 unlocks by 6th Man Ventures found a similar divide: private allocations to teams and investors showed a negative price correlation once they exceeded 1% of circulating supply.

Ethena’s own vesting schedule keeps that pressure in play. Its documentation gives investors a one-year cliff followed by three years of linear monthly vesting from the March 2024 token launch, meaning backer tokens have been unlocking every month since early 2025.

The Hack VC-linked transfer is one data point in that longer stream of supply. It also comes days after another Ethena-related custody movement drew attention, when Ceffu pulled $120 million from the protocol’s wallets.